Deuteronomy 9

Deuteronomy 9:1 “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go into and take possession from nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the sky.

Deuteronomy 9:2 The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim. You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak? ‘

Deuteronomy 9:3 But understand that today Yahveh, your God, will cross over ahead of you as a consuming fire; he will exterminate them and subdue them before you. You will take possession of them and destroy them rapidly, as Yahveh has told you.

Deuteronomy 9:4 When Yahveh, your God, pushes them away before you, do not say in your heart, and this is what you say: ‘Yahveh brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ Instead, Yahveh will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.

Deuteronomy 9:5 You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, Yahveh, your God, will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 9:6 Understand that Yahveh, your God, is not giving you this good land to take possession of because of your righteousness because you are a hard-necked people.

Deuteronomy 9:7 “Remember and do not forget how you infuriated Yahveh your God in the open country. You have been rebelling against Yahveh from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

Deuteronomy 9:8 You infuriated Yahveh at Horeb, and he was angry enough with you to exterminate you.

Deuteronomy 9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant Yahveh established with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water.

Deuteronomy 9:10 On the day of the collected assembly, Yahveh gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by God’s finger. The exact words were on them, which Yahveh spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.

Deuteronomy 9:11 Yahveh gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

Deuteronomy 9:12 “Yahveh said to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. You see, your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.’

Deuteronomy 9:13 Yahveh also said to me, and this is what he said: ‘I have seen this people, and notice, they are a hard-necked people.

Deuteronomy 9:14 Leave me alone, and I will exterminate them and blot out their name under the sky. Then I will make you into a nation more robust and more numerous than they.’

Deuteronomy 9:15 “So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

Deuteronomy 9:16 I saw and noticed how you had failed Yahveh your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way Yahveh had commanded for you.

Deuteronomy 9:17 So I took hold of the two tablets and tossed them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

Deuteronomy 9:18 I fell like the first time in the presence of Yahveh for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water because of all your failures, doing what was evil in Yahveh’s sight and angering him.

Deuteronomy 9:19 I was afraid of the fierce anger of Yahveh’s infuriation against you because he was about to exterminate you. But again, Yahveh listened to me on that occasion.

Deuteronomy 9:20 Yahveh was angry enough with Aaron to exterminate him, but I also prayed for Aaron at that time.

Deuteronomy 9:21 I took the calf you had mistakenly made and burned it. I crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust, and tossed its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

Deuteronomy 9:22 “You continued to infuriate Yahveh at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.

Deuteronomy 9:23 When Yahveh sent you from Kadesh-Barnea, and this is what he said: ‘Go up and take possession of the land I have given you’; you rebelled against the command of Yahveh, your God. You did not believe or obey him.

Deuteronomy 9:24 You have been rebelling against Yahveh ever since I have known you.

Deuteronomy 9:25 “I fell in the presence of Yahveh forty days and forty nights because Yahveh had threatened to exterminate you.

Deuteronomy 9:26 I prayed to Yahveh: Lord Yahveh, do not annihilate your people, your inheritance, whom you redeemed through your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Deuteronomy 9:27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Ignore these people’s stubbornness and their wickedness and failures.

Deuteronomy 9:28 Or else, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because Yahveh wasn’t able to bring them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the open country.’

Deuteronomy 9:29 But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.

Deuteronomy 9 quotes:

“The scene is set first by an anticipation of the conquest of the promised land (vv. 1–3). Then Moses reminds the people in advance that the land will come to them from God’s graciousness and judgment, not through any righteousness of their own (vv. 4–6). In the following verses (7–21), the perverse stubbornness of the people becomes the central topic and it is illustrated by reference to past events, particularly the events associated with Horeb/Sinai; that the illustrations could easily be multiplied, however, is made clear by the brief summary statement in vv. 22–24. Finally the chapter concludes with Moses’ prayer on behalf of the people committed to his charge (vv. 25–29).”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 192.

“There are two ways of looking at difficulties ; we may look at them from a human stand-point, or from a divine one; we may look at them in a spirit of unbelief, or we may look at them iu the calmness and quietness of confidence in the living God. We have Jiu instance of the former in the report of the unbelieving spies in Numbers xiii ; we have an instance of the latter in the opening of our present chapter.

It is not the pro\nnce, nor the path, of faith to deny that there are difficulties to be encountered by the people of God ; it would be the height of folly to do so, inasmuch as there aie difficulties, and it would be but fool-hardiness, fanaticism, or fleshly enthusiasm to deny it. It is always well for people to know what they are about, and not to rush blindly into a path for which they are not prepared. An unbelieving sluggard may say. There is a lion in the way; a blind enthusiast may say, There is no such thing ; the true man of faith will say. Though there were a thousand lions in the waj’, God can soon dispose of them.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. Loizeaux Bros 1880. pp. 65-66.

Deuteronomy 9 links:

acts of defiance
consumed
daring to intercede
duplicate
focused praying
God will cross over ahead
his chosen sword
in retrospect- hinges of mercy
infuriating God
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, June 3, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, June 3, 2021
protective clothing – immortal body
thoughts on radical obedience

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 8

Deuteronomy 8:1 “Carefully do every command I am commanding you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land Yahveh swore to your fathers.

Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember that Yahveh, your God, led you on the entire journey these forty years in the open country so that he might discipline you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would watch his commands.

Deuteronomy 8:3 He disciplined you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known so that you might learn that a human does not stay alive on bread alone but stays alive on everything that comes from[1] the mouth of Yahveh.

Deuteronomy 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.

Deuteronomy 8:5 Keep in mind that Yahveh, your God, has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

Deuteronomy 8:6 So watch the commands of Yahveh your God by walking in his ways and fearing him

Deuteronomy 8:7 because Yahveh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills;

Deuteronomy 8:8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

Deuteronomy 8:9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper.

Deuteronomy 8:10 When you eat and are full, you will celebrate Yahveh, your God, for the good land he has given you.

Deuteronomy 8:11 “Be careful or else you will forget Yahveh your God by failing to watch his commands, rules, and prescriptions that I am commanding you today.

Deuteronomy 8:12 When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in,

Deuteronomy 8:13 and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases,

Deuteronomy 8:14 be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget Yahveh, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

Deuteronomy 8:15 He led you through the great and terrible open country with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you.

Deuteronomy 8:16 He fed you in the open country with manna, which your fathers had not known, in order to discipline and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper.

Deuteronomy 8:17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my ability have gained this wealth for me,’

Deuteronomy 8:18 but remember that Yahveh, your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your fathers, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 8:19 If you ever forget Yahveh, your God, and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will be destroyed.

Deuteronomy 8:20 Like the nations Yahveh is about to destroy before you; you will be destroyed if you do not obey Yahveh, your God.

[1]מוֹצָא = what comes out (possible wordplay with מַצָּה)

Deuteronomy 8 quotes

“The desolation of the wilderness is in stark contrast to the richness of the promised land. God had led his people through the wilderness, however, for a particular purpose; the forty years were to be a time of testing and disciplining, to know what was in your heart,2 whether or not you would keep his commandments (v. 2). The wilderness tested and disciplined the people in various ways. On the one hand, the desolation of the wilderness removed the natural props and supports which man by nature depends on; it cast the people back on God, who alone could provide the strength to survive the wilderness. On the other hand, the severity of the wilderness period undermined the shallow bases of confidence of those who were not truly rooted and grounded in God. The wilderness makes or breaks a man; it provides strength of will and character. The strength provided by the wilderness, however, was not the strength of self-sufficiency, but the strength that comes from a knowledge of the living God.”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 185.

“Why, we may ask, were Israel charged to “remember all the way” by which the Lord their God had k'(l them? Assuredl}’, to draw out their hearts in praise for the past, and to strengthen their confidence in God for the future.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy. vol 3. Loizeaux Bros 1880. p. 37.

Deuteronomy 8 links:

a good land
a neglected promise
a promise to avoid
ACST 45- The Tempters
full of themselves
in retrospect- remember the whole way
Maranatha Daily Devotional – August 29, 2015
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, August 10, 2018
purpose for prosperity

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 7

Deuteronomy 7:1 “When Yahveh your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of, and he drives out many nations before you — the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Deuteronomy 7:2 and when Yahveh your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely eliminate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Deuteronomy 7:3 You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

Deuteronomy 7:4 because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then Yahveh’s nose will burn at you, and he will rapidly exterminate you.

Deuteronomy 7:5 Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their standing stones,[1] cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images.

Deuteronomy 7:6 You see, you are a sacred[2] people to Yahveh your God. Yahveh your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the land.

Deuteronomy 7:7 “Yahveh had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, because you were the fewest of all peoples.

Deuteronomy 7:8 But because Yahveh cared about you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know that Yahveh, your God, is God, the faithful God who watches his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who care about him and keep his commands.

Deuteronomy 7:10 But he directly pays back and destroys those who hate him. He will not hesitate to pay back directly the one who hates him.

Deuteronomy 7:11 So watch the commands—the prescriptions and rules—that I am commanding you to follow today.

Deuteronomy 7:12 “If you listen to and are careful to watch these rules, Yahveh your God will watch his covenant loyalty with you, as he swore to your fathers.

Deuteronomy 7:13 He will care about you, empower you, and multiply you. He will bless your offspring, and the produce of your land– your grain, new wine, and fresh oil– the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land he swore to your fathers that he would give you.

Deuteronomy 7:14 You will be empowered above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock.

Deuteronomy 7:15 Yahveh will remove all sickness from you; he will not place on you all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but he will inflict them on all who hate you.

Deuteronomy 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples Yahveh your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods because that will be a snare to you.

Deuteronomy 7:17 “If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I take possession from them?’

Deuteronomy 7:18 do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what Yahveh, your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt:

Deuteronomy 7:19 the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which Yahveh your God brought you out. Yahveh, your God, will do the same to all the people you fear.

Deuteronomy 7:20 Yahveh, your God, will also send hornets against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you are destroyed.

Deuteronomy 7:21 Don’t be terrified of them, because Yahveh your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.

Deuteronomy 7:22 Yahveh, your God, will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them rapidly; or else the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

Deuteronomy 7:23 Yahveh, your God, will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are exterminated.

Deuteronomy 7:24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will destroy their names under the sky. No one will be able to stand against you; you will exterminate them.

Deuteronomy 7:25 Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t crave the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is repulsive[3] to Yahveh, your God.

Deuteronomy 7:26 Do not bring any repulsive thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction.

[1]מַצֵּבָה  = “an unhewn, upright stone for cult, burial-marking, or memorial purposes” (Holladay). Deut. 7:5; 12:3; 16:22.

[2] קָדוֹשׁ= sacred. Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2, 21; 23:14; 26:19; 28:9; 33:3.

[3]תּוֹעֵבָה = repulsive. Deut 7:25-26; 12:31; 13:14; 14:3; 17:1, 4; 18:9, 12; 20:18; 22:5; 23:18; 24:4; 25:16; 27:15; 32:16.

Deuteronomy 7 quotes:

“In summary, when the Israelites conquered their new land, they were to destroy the old inhabitants, refusing to enter into any kind of treaty with them, either political or marital. Any kind of treaty would be a compromise and would lead to disaster; therefore the Israelites were to destroy systematically the physical religious “furniture” of their enemies, indicating thereby their complete lack of recognition for the gods of their enemies.”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 177.

“Some persons, allowing themselves to be influenced by a morbid feeling^ and false sentimentality, rather than by an enlightened judgment, find difficulty in the directions given to Israel in reference to the Canaanites, in the opening of our chapter. It seems to them inconsistent with a benevolent Being to command His people to smite their fellow-creatures, and to show them nO’ mercy. They cannot understand how a merciful God could commission His people to slay women and children with the edge of the sword.

It is very plain that such persons could not adopt the language of Revelation xv. 3, 4. They are not prepared to say, “Just and true are Thy ways. Thou King of nations.” They cannot justify- God in all His ways ; nay, they are actually sitting in judgment upon Him. They presume to measure the actings of divine government by the standard of their own shallow thoughts — to scan the infinite by the finite ; in short, they measure God by themselves.”

Mackintosh Charles Henry. Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy.Vo. 3. Loizeaux Bros 1880. p. 2.

Deuteronomy 7 links:

checkmate
cleansing Canaan
destined to be destroyed
he watches, so watch
in retrospect- a greater GOD
Kriptonite
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, June 2, 2023
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, May 31, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, August 9, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, June 2, 2021
partnering with paganism
set apart for destruction
your God will do the same
your offspring and produce

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.

Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6:1 “This is the command — the prescriptions and rules – Yahveh your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and take possession of.

Deuteronomy 6:2 Do this so that you may fear Yahveh your God all the days of your life by watching all his prescriptions[1] and commands. I am commanding you, your son, and your grandson so that you may have a long life.

Deuteronomy 6:3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahveh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Listen, Israel: Yahveh our God, Yahveh is one.

Deuteronomy 6:5 Care about Yahveh your God with all your heart, with all your throat, and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:6 These words that I am commanding you today are to be in your heart.

Deuteronomy 6:7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you are lying down[2] and when you are getting up.

Deuteronomy 6:8 Tie them as a sign onto your hand and let them be a symbol between your eyes.

Deuteronomy 6:9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and your city gates.

Deuteronomy 6:10 “When Yahveh your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you – a land with large and good cities that you did not build,

Deuteronomy 6:11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant– and when you eat and are satisfied,

Deuteronomy 6:12 be careful or else you will forget Yahveh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear Yahveh your God, worship him and take your oaths in his name.

Deuteronomy 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,

Deuteronomy 6:15 because Yahveh your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise, Yahveh, your God’s nose will burn[3] at you and exterminate you from the face of the land.

Deuteronomy 6:16 Do not test Yahveh your God like you tested him at Massah.

Deuteronomy 6:17 Carefully observe the commands of Yahveh your God, the reminders and prescriptions he has commanded you.

Deuteronomy 6:18 Do what is right and good in Yahveh’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and take possession of the good land Yahveh your God swore to give your fathers,

Deuteronomy 6:19 by pushing away[4] all your enemies before you, as Yahveh has said.

Deuteronomy 6:20 “When your son asks you in the future, and this is what they say: ‘What is the meaning of the reminders, prescriptions, and rules that Yahveh our God has commanded you? ‘

Deuteronomy 6:21 tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but Yahveh brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Deuteronomy 6:22 Before our eyes Yahveh inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household,

Deuteronomy 6:23 but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our fathers.

Deuteronomy 6:24 Yahveh commanded us to follow all these prescriptions and to fear Yahveh our God for our good always and that we may stay alive, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 6:25 Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands in the sight of Yahveh our God, like he has commanded us.’

[1] חֻקָּה= prescriptions. Deuteronomy 6:2; 8:11; 10:13; 11:1; 28:15, 45; 30:10, 16.

[2]שָׁכַב = lie down. Deut. 6:7; 11:19; 22:22-23, 25, 28-29; 24:12-13; 27:20-23; 31:16.

[3]חרה = burn (in anger). Deut. 6:15; 7:4; 11:17; 29:27; 31:17.

[4] הָדָף= push away. Deuteronomy 6:19; 9:4.

Deuteronomy 6 quotes:

“The fundamental truth has to do with the nature of God as one (v. 4); the fundamental duty is the response of love which God requires of man (v. 5). Both themes are taken up in the teaching of Jesus.”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 168.

“As the heart of Israel’s faith and confession, the Shema at 6:4–5 extends the first two commandments in particular (5:6–10), giving essential expression to Israel’s covenant faith. As such, the Shema can be understood as both a statement about Yahweh’s uniqueness (as an answer to the question, ‘Who is our “one and only” God?’ = Yahweh), and also Israel’s response to this uniqueness implied in the translation ‘alone’.”

Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Deuteronomy 6 links:

ACST 45- The Tempters
DECORATE YOUR DOORPOST
exterminate!
focusing on God alone
he drives out many nations
in retrospect- love and fear
Loving God
Loving Our Neighbours
Making Disciples
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, August 6, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, June 1, 2023
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, August 7, 2018
mission statement
redemption and left
the meaning of the rules
trusting, not testing
your God who is among you

The DEUTERONOMY shelf in Jeff’s library.